source: thephiladelphiacitizen
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner is under scrutiny from multiple directions this week, as The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that three of his own prosecutors testified against him in federal court, and The Philadelphia Citizen published a pointed critique of his tenure in office.
The courtroom hearing, held before U.S. District Court Judge Paul S. Diamond, grew out of Krasner’s office attempting to overturn the 2009 second-degree murder conviction of Dennis Johnson, who was found guilty in the shooting of a man at a North Philadelphia convenience store.
What began as an exoneration hearing turned into an examination of conduct inside the district attorney’s office itself.
Three Prosecutors Testify Against Their Own Boss
Katherine Ernst, chief of training in the law division, took the stand first.
She was followed by Steven Wildberger, an assistant district attorney in the appeals unit, and David Napiorski, who heads the law division. All three still work for Krasner.
Their testimony was damaging.
They provided meeting records, internal memos, and emails documenting conversations with Krasner about how his office handled errors in court filings tied to the Johnson case.
Each painted a picture of an office that appeared more focused on protecting itself than on pursuing justice. Napiorski indicated that Krasner’s conduct bordered on a cover-up.
Wildberger described being told not to bring printed materials or written items to meetings with the district attorney. Krasner did not respond to a request for comment.
The hearing did not take place in a vacuum. Federal courts have previously disbarred and suspended prosecutors from Krasner’s office for lying to the court.
The state Supreme Court found additional instances of misconduct and, in an extraordinary step, appointed the state attorney general to oversee future efforts by Krasner’s office to undo prior convictions.
A Cold Case Charged After 26 Years
Separately, on September 1, Krasner’s office announced charges against Alexis Flores for the 1981 kidnapping and murder of five-year-old I’riana De Jesus, whose body was found on the 3900 block of North 6th Street in August 2000.
Flores was captured in February 2026 in Lepaera, Honduras, through a joint effort by the FBI’s Transnational Anti-Gang Task Force and Honduran authorities, then extradited to Philadelphia.
He faces charges including murder, kidnapping, and unlawful restraint.
The victim’s mother, Lizasuain De Jesus, told the district attorney’s office that 25 years of waiting had been difficult and that she had not always believed an arrest would come.
She thanked the detectives who kept the case active.
A Reform-Minded DA With a Disputed Record
Against this backdrop, The Philadelphia Citizen published an open-letter opinion piece calling on Krasner to move beyond rhetoric toward practical criminal-justice solutions.
The piece acknowledged shared ground with the DA on issues such as cash bail and over-incarceration, while arguing that Krasner had prioritized high-profile positioning over workable reform over the course of a decade in office.
Churchill’s observation, cited in The Philadelphia Citizen piece, that some people change their principles to serve their party resonated through a week in which Krasner’s office faced challenges from within its own ranks, from the federal bench, and from longtime critics in Philadelphia civic media.